The Tales of the Clueless
by Polkadots24
Summary: #11 - We realize that life is just really a big game to be played.
1. Of Weddings and Duties

_Of Weddings and Duties._

"_I once had a heart and it was true, but now it's gone from me to you. So take care of it as I have done because now you have two and I have none."_

I tucked the last strand of hair that was left out of place. I looked at my reflection across from me and I smiled. Everything was perfect. Not one hair out of place. I stood up from the chair and opened the windows on my right and I watched as the sun shone through the maple tree leaves that were turning yellow. I heard a knock on my door and I gave the door an annoyed look.

"The room's occupied!" I screamed out.

I returned back to just staring outside and marvelling how everything was going smoothly when I heard knocks on the door again.

"I'm changing so please go away." I returned to my seat and picked up my gun that was left on my table.

I aimed it at the door. Somebody was tampering with the lock and I could see the knob carefully twisting side to side. After a few minutes, I heard the lock click that meant that whoever the person was on the other side of the door was successful in breaking in my room. I turned the safety off and waited for the door to swing open to shoot whoever was going to come in. The door swung and I pulled pack the trigger.

"If I wasn't the one coming in there would probably be a dead body on the ground right now."

I looked up to see a boy with messy black hair with his trademark smirk on his face. I smiled, I knew he was the only bastard perverted enough to break in to my room. It was Natsume Hyuuga, my partner.

"That was just some tranquilizer. It makes the person fall asleep for a couple of minutes. No harm done." I said nonchalantly.

_Hey! You're almost there!_

I walked over to the door and took the tranquilizer dart that has stuck itself there and threw it back to the table. Natsume strode in and seated himself in my chair. I closed the door and looked at him.

"You know, I could have been really changing my clothes." I said accusingly. It was rude to do that even if it was an emergency.

"So? What's there to see that I haven't seen?" He retorted back. I rolled my eyes at his offhanded, perverted reply and seated myself beside him.

"What's so important that you had to break in my room while I was pretending to be changing?" I said sourly. I could've done a thousand fun things rather than entertain him. He jerked his head over to the door and I looked in that direction. Hasty knocks were made and Koko's voice rang out in the room.

"Mikan! Mikan! Is Natsume in that room with you?" His voice was shrill, a sure sign that he was nervous.

I stood up and looked at Natsume. He gave a firm shake of his head, indicating that he didn't want to be found by Koko.

"Why would Natsume be here anyways, Koko?" I said. I was trying to decide which was the best thing I could do: A. To rat out Natsume and send him out to Koko's hands or B. Keep quiet about Natsume being in my room. I decided that option A would be the best because I'd have revenge on my partner over there sneaking in my room but just before I could shout that Natsume was actually inside this room, Koko knocked on the door harshly and twisted the knob fiercely and then he shouted something that made me reconsider my choice.

"You're sleeping together, aren't you? So he might be there looking for you to make your plans tonight." He said loudly on the other side of the door.

My blood boiled and I _swore_ that Kokoro Yome's blood will be on my hands that night. I instinctively reached for my gun but Natsume, who was smirking that cocky smirk of his, decided to play the good guy and take the gun out of my reach. I tried to grab at the gun but he stood up and dangled it over his head. He just had to make fun at my height (or lack thereof) and I cursed that I was born so short. I decided that both their bloods will be shed tonight. _Damn Hyuuga. Damn Yome. _

"Kokoro Yome, I swear that if you tell anyone that or repeat that sentence your secrets will be told to your future wife and get posted on the World Wide Web. Natsume Hyuuga is not in this room so if you know better, then you should leave. _Now._" I said through my gritted teeth. He was funny and charming most of the time but damn is he annoying the rest of the time.

I heard his squeak of _'oh no'_ before I heard his footsteps running down the hall and then fading. I slumped to my chair and glared at Natsume who was now putting my gun back on the table.

"Don't be so happy that Kokoro Yome said we were sleeping together. I mean who would sleep with you anyway?" I was still annoyed at Koko's remark. Wedding day or not wedding day, his blood will be shed.

_Find the person who loves G, R, H, A, A and A._

He gave me a smirk (all he ever does is smirk at me actually) that said 'A lot of girls would die to sleep with me.'

"Okay, fine. Whatever. You're a chick magnet. Yay for you." I said with a lot of fake enthusiasm and sarcasm dripping on each word.

"You know that you have me all to yourself." He said arrogantly.

"Just tell me why you're here, Hyuuga." I glanced at my watch. It read that it was 11:05 am. Twenty five minutes left until Koko gets married.

"Koko couldn't decide what tie to use." He said lazily, slumping on the wall across from me.

"So, why does it have to include you?" I said. After a day of non-stop preparing for the wedding, almost shooting my partner and getting mad at Yome, the day wasn't even half over yet and I was already tired.

"He asked Ruka what color looked best and when Ruka actually picked a color, Koko began freaking out that it was not the right color. Ruka being the coward that he is ran to a spare room and hid inside it, locking it shut. When Koko couldn't get Ruka out of the room he turned and asked me what color-"I cut him off before he could say anything else.

"He asked you? You, as in, Natsume Hyuuga-the-colorblind-bat? He asked you?" I said jokingly. It was unbelievable that Koko would ask Natsume considering he has no taste at all in colors other than black and white.

"He's really desperate if he asked you for advice. Is that why you're here? Too scared to take on the tie challenge?" I said while I was laughing. Natsume glared at me from across the room. I really had to admit that teasing others is very fun to do, no wonder Natsume and Hotaru love doing it.

"Ha-ha, Sakura but I'm not here to hide from Koko. I came here for a reason." He said darkly. His face was serious and I could tell that there was a problem so I wiped away the last stray tear from my eye.

"Other than trying to hide from the nervous groom?" I said as I grinned. I knew that this wasn't supposed to be taken lightly but when he gets into one of these moods, the whole room is depressing. I don't wasn't to go out to Koko's wedding stinking of depression.

"This is serious, Sakura. I've received orders from the higher-ups. We've got a mission." He said grimly. I knew that he wouldn't want to leave now, right before his best friend's wedding and I wouldn't want to go either.

"What? Don't they know that we're on leave? It's not right! I mean they can't do this!" I said angrily. I stood up and grabbed my phone from the table and hastily dialled headquarters. No one was answering.

"Damn! They won't answer!"

_Hint? HAHA.._

_Check her sixth story,_

I paced the room with my phone trapped in my hands. They couldn't do this. This was our best friend's wedding day. We couldn't leave for a mission in the middle of the wedding.

"They knew we were on leave." Natsume said calmly. I couldn't understand how he can stand there so calm and almost bored when I was panicking and pacing the room.

"I f they knew then why-"My voice was like a strangled cat that hadn't been given water. I was tearing up. I hate it when I cry. I looked up at the ceiling and breathed in and out. The tears were gone but the resentment was still there.

"Natsume, what the hell are we going to do?" I faced him and his eyebrows were furrowed with concentration then suddenly his face was calm and he stopped leaning on the wall.

"Do you need to ask?" He said annoyed. He jerked his head over at my open window and I knew that he would go on the mission.

"Are you crazy? You're leaving right when Koko's about to be married? Don't you care?" I shouted at him. I was confused, depressed but most of all angry. I hated him for not caring. I hated the higher-ups for making us choose. I hated myself that I was even thinking on going on the mission.

"Think about this: If it wasn't an important mission they would have left us to celebrate the wedding." He said as he perched himself on the window. I knew he hated the higher-ups for doing this too; the anger was seeping off his body. He outstretched his hand, inviting me to come with him. Without hesitation I took his hand and we jumped on to a branch of the maple tree.

I didn't need to think about the decision much. Leaving the place was the most horrible thing to do, seeing the disappointed looks when we come back but it was my duty to protect the city, protect the world. It wasn't the responsibility that I wanted seeing that it is too much of a hassle but still, it is my responsibility and I have to do it for the sake of others.

After we walked a couple of miles away from the place I stopped and my hand slipped from under his grip. He turned to face me.

"What if- What if I miss your wedding next? This can't go on forever." I said miserably. I wasn't proud of what I did back there but there was no turning back.

"I don't think they'll let you miss your own wedding." He said gruffly, resuming his walk after saying it.

I looked up, awe-stricken. I couldn't help supress a grin. Oh, God. This is how cheesy my partner is in reality. This was his off-hand joke to try and make me smile, which he was successful in.

This was my duty and I know it's stupid. You had to make more sacrifices than necessary and keep your priorities in order. I had the best and worst job in the world but this is my job, my responsibility. I hated it at times but I love it more than anything.

So I ran up to catch up to Natsume Hyuuga, my partner because we were already late for our job.

_Your answers shall be revealed._


	2. Of Pretzels and Phone Calls

_Of Pretzels and Phone Calls._

"_Misery loves company."_

"Sumire Shouda! Let go of that pretzel or I will personally throw you out of my window!" I wasn't getting better at being sweet after getting my heart broken into several million pieces.

Who could blame me? I was bitter and food was my only company and yet, here's Sumire Shouda, stealing my food. As if, I haven't had enough stolen from me.

Welcome to my life of misery and woe a week after my heart was broken into several million pieces.

"Mikan! This pretzel will make you fat, just give it to me and I will dispose of it accordingly!" Sumire was at the other end of the room holding up the pretzel I had my eyes on.

"'Dispose of it accordingly' my face! You'll gobble it down like the monster you are!" I got off my bed and marched my way down to her but with all my stuff littered on the floor with a few discarded food wrappers and boxes and a lot of my clothing just scattered around it was almost impossible to get to her before she put her monster-lips on that pretzel.

I flailed my hands up and down to get her attention and I was successful as she laughed herself into a frenzy and I took this chance by wading through my room and then when I was close enough I leaped from my position and tackled her to the ground.

"Mikan! Oof- Get off of me! Your fatness will squish me!" She said as she tried to get the pretzel away from my clawing hands.

I scoffed and tried to get the damned pretzel away from her claws, to no avail. The damned monster wouldn't let it go! I rolled off of her into a pile of my washed clothes and I sighed. Sumire took a bite off the pretzel and I decided to let it go. It was just a pretzel.

"You know-" She stopped as she chewed her pretzel. She swallowed it and took another bite. Did humans really eat that slowly or is she just torturing me? "-you should stop this all 'oh woe is me' act you've been trying to pull. A week after and you've turned your bedroom to a waste bin having empty food wrappers and your clothes littering everything. It's not doing you good being a hermit and all. You can't flirt with guys when you're a hermit." Her pretzel is spewed on me as she doesn't stop talking. I wipe it off and get off the pile of clothes and return to my bed, albeit it took me a few minutes after all the clothes I had to go through. Sumire followed behind eating the last of her pretzel and as I flop on my bed she takes her seat at the foot of it leaning on one of the bedposts.

I readjust my position to have my face squished on a pillow. "I just need to accept that I'll be living like this in the next few years and someday I just might be lucky and get featured on _Hoarders_!"

Sumire picks off dirt from her nails and she raises her legs on top of the bed. She pats my foot affectionately (as affectionately one can pat a foot.) "You know, don't follow my advice. This whole hermit thing could be great for you! You can flirt with guys as a hermit, too. 'Oh I love the solitude of darkness, marry me and let me live in your closet!' will get the boys going to your lawn in no time!" I spot the fake cheery tone her voice has taken and I want to puke. Ugh. She was trying to make me feel better when I know that the life of the hermit was the life for me.

I raise my head to face her. "Sumire, I love you and all but please shut the fuck up. I just need to face it. I am going to be an old woman someday with 5 dogs and 10 cats and they will be named as Johnny Aplebee, Psyduck the wonderlad, Yo Mama, Anna the Whore, The Slutty Pumpkin, Kitty McHissface and other crude names that will surely bring light to my otherwise dull old woman life." I end with a resigned sigh as I smash my face to the pillow again. I feel Sumire stand up and loom over me. She takes a fistful of my hair and I cry out in pain. She lets my hair go _(My poor hair!)_ and I tumble back down on the bed. I stand up and face her.

"Sumire! _What is your problem?_" I scream out as I gently stroke my mangled hair. RIP. Mikan Sakura's hair. She slaps me with her newly manicured hand as her eyes burn a bright green. As in a really bright lime green. It was creepy; it could light a whole dark room.

"What's my problem? My _fucking_ problem? You're the one that has a _fucking_ problem. It's not me! It's you!" Her shrill voice was so high and loud that I could barely understand it.

"We aren't breaking up Sumire! Why is it that it sounds like that?" I scream back at her. I hoped to scream at her at a higher pitch than she did so that she could experience the irritation that I felt.

"Mikan get off your _fucking_ high chair and look at yourself! You're a _fucking_ mess that-"

"Why the _fuck_ do you keep saying the word _fuck_?"

"Because it's _fucking_ expressing the urgency in my _fucking_ words! Wake the _fuck_ up. A _fucking_ week has gone by. It's just another boy; there are millions of them out there! Get another one! Two if you want! Don't like boys anymore? Go for the girls then! I don't care just get out of your _fucking_ room because I will not let you be a _fucking_ old woman with 5 dogs and 10 cats with stupid names!"

Sumire was red after yelling at me so much and I looked like an idiot laughing at her. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I even snorted while I laughed. It was the stupidest speech I've heard in my whole life. Sumire left after an hour of me continually laughing with no end to my laughs in sight.

I woke up on a pile of my clothes and I felt fresh and new and I just felt whole again. Maybe laughing my head off after the world's stupidest speech was a good idea. I hummed a tune as I walked all the way to my phone in the hallway. I dialled in a number I memorized by heart. I hear three rings and the other end answers.

"Hello?" I ask with my voice slightly hoarse from laughing for an hour. I twirl the cord of the phone in my finger.

"Who is this?" The voice was sickly sweet and you could feel the sluttiness in her tone.

"Your worst nightmare." I say menacingly into the phone. I try to hold back my laugh as to not give away my identity but I snort anyway and the other end laughs and I know I've been caught.

"Mikan Sakura? Ruka Nogi's _ex_-girlfriend?" And I obviously hear the way she emphasized the ex-part.

"Luna Koizumi. Because of you I had thoughts of living alone in my apartment with 5 dogs and 10 cats with stupid-ass names that should be illegal." I pause as I hear her girly giggle in the other end.

"What else is new?" She retorts and I want to slam the phone to the wall but I swallow my saliva and keep my temper down.

"You should keep your hands to yourself Koizumi. You and your slutty ways will always just be a side dish to men. No one will ever take you for a main course. Plus! I know in a few years younger sluts will come to take your top slut place and soon no one will even take you as a side dish!" I inhale and the other end is practically speechless. I smirk to myself.

"And you know what Luna Koizumi."

She chokes out a 'what' and I stand up from the ground.

"I'm going to buy a pretzel today and eat it! HA! Yu and your slutty values will never let you eat one ever!" And I smash the phone down to its receiver and thus end my worries.

There's a knock on my door and I get it not bothering to change my clothes (blue pajamas with a matching blue bunny top) and I see the face of Sumire Shouda with a bag of pretzels in her right hand and I grin at her.

"Sumire, gues who's not going to be a hermit today?"

She laughs and I usher her in. We have a lot of cleaning ahead of us.

**A/N:** I'm candy high and going on an update spree. Awesomesauce.

**Prompts:** Catfight, Broken Hearts.


	3. Of Ferraris and Public Transportation

_Of Ferraris and Public Transportation._

"This lock that held me safe,

you've got the key, take it

and let me escape."

Hotaru wondered if she would ever get off the bus.

She hated public transportation and yet, here she was in the back seat riding a bus home. She casts a glance to her left for the nth time to the blonde boy with the blue eyes.

It was quite cliché of her actually to fall for a blonde with blue eyes. She would have laughed at her idiotic thoughts if it wasn't for the fact that she was beside a clichéd prince and didn't want to make a fool of herself. She's the Hotaru Imai. She couldn't make a fool of herself, especially to a boy.

Her crowning moment of idiocy happened when she followed said blonde guy off the bus.

It wasn't even her stop yet.

She hated public transportation a lot more than she did before.

She was in a stop that was unfamiliar to her, she had no money left and she just let her hormones be in control.

_Way to go hormones._

She looked around her surroundings and the only person in a five meter radius was the blonde boy. She inwardly groaned. This was another event that her hormones will jeopardize.

_Should she die of hunger or by embarrassment?_

She decided that the latter would be much faster than the former so she gave in to her hormones and approached the blonde boy. She once read in a book that to talk to a cute guy you had to play it cool and not stuck-up like all those Barbie girls.

"Where do I go to get out of here?" Cool. _Check._

"Where do you want to go?" The blonde replied with a smile.

"Away from you." Not stuck-up. _Check._

He laughed. "That's pretty vague. Any places we can start on?"

His laugh irritated her very much. She could feel the heat grow on her face. "Do you have a car or anything? I hate walking or any public transportation for that matter."

"Why do you hate public transportation?"

Her blood boiled. This guy, a mere cliché in a long list, is just unbearable. He keeps on asking things which could have no use in her given problem.

"Because it's what led me to you, who in few measly minutes, has given me a whole bag of problems I have to deal with."

She analysed him properly without judgement. He was 5'9 with a slightly lanky stature. Slightly lanky meaning he wasn't like a stick that could break at any second. He had meat on his bones. His blonde hair was messed up with the wind just blowing in just about every direction and his blue eyes… Well, those blue eyes stopped her heart beating for a second there. He has this amused glint in his blue eyes that she found very, very …handsome.

_Dammit hormones._

"Well I wasn't the one who ordered you to come down with me. Why come down at all then if it wasn't your stop? Were you planning on stalking me?"

She was left utterly speechless and her aura changed in a split second. He was definitely not a cliché. He made her angry beyond everything. She wouldn't dare answer that question, what could she say anyway? 'Excuse me; it was my hormones loving your irresistible scent?'

_As if. _

THE Hotaru Imai was left speechless by a cliché-looking boy. She couldn't live this day down until hell froze over and reheated again.

_She hated her life. She hated her hormones. She hated public transportation. _

She crossed her arms in front of her and said the stupidest reply anyone could ever retort back. "It was my hormones' fault. Well, got a problem with that? Do you have a car or not because if you don't I'll leave."

_And her life was now a complete failure._

He gave out a heart-warming smile to her and bowed. "Of course I do, Mademoiselle. A white Ferrari at your service."

She would enjoy that ride home in the comfort of a Ferrari beside the most unpredictable boy in the world.

_Maybe her life wasn't a complete failure._

**A/N:** Because the ideas of chance meetings are wonderful. :)

**Prompts:** Bus, Lost

_**honoris causa**__ – For the sake of the honor._


	4. Of Trashcans and Coke Bottles

_ Of Trashcans and Coke Bottles. _

"Live a life worth living"

It was stupid. I mean why would you even go to your worst enemy's house? What reason would your worst enemy have to invite you, whom they consider the scum beneath their feet? Unless it's all a ploy cleverly designed to trap scum like me. It is a trap. I'm sure of it.

I know it is a trap and I am advising myself not to go there and yet why have I arrived at Natsume Hyuuga's doorstep with my Pictionary game board in my hands and a bottle of coke a little over an hour early?

That's what I wanted to ask myself too.

I knocked on the door after an hour of staying behind a nearby tree. Let me tell you a thing about the trees, they're actually hard and uncomfortable. So if you want a bad back by the end of the day, better lounge yourself under the nearest tree.

"Sakura, never knew a loner like you could make time out of your busy schedule of playing pokemon, reading books and eating grilled cheese." He said with that tone of arrogance that never fails to make my blood boil.

"You're pretty fluent in bullshit, Hyuuga. I'm not here for you, you know." I said as I rudely walked past him.

I looked around and saw that nothing changed over the course of 8 years inside his house. The walls were still light beige, the sofas and chairs were black and circled around a coffee table inside the living room and their plasma TV was still as big as ever. _Rich bastards._

I seated myself on a sofa which had Hotaru on the other end. I greeted her with a smile and placed the bottle of coke on the coffee table along with the other snacks. Hotaru looked at the game board in my hands.

"Pictionary, are you serious Mikan? We're in high school. We're practically almost in college and you expect us to play that?" She said mockingly. See, my best friend's in to the more expensive kinds of games. I stifled a laugh and put the game board on top of my lap.

"What's wrong with Pictionary, Hotaru? Just because I beat you in every single game we played together-"I said to her teasingly. Pictionary was one of the few aspects in which I'm _better_ than Hotaru Imai.

"It's not my fault you have horrid drawings, Sakura!" Hotaru said angrily. My best friend just hated losing but I loved how I could make her squirm like that. Think of it, the Ice queen squirming. It's one of those priceless moments.

"Who has horrid drawings?" Ruka said entering the room. Ah, Ruka Nogi. He always has this effect on me in which I become happier instantly when he's around, unlike his best friend.

"Sakura here. Who else?" Hotaru retorted bitterly.

"I think I know." Ruka said jokingly as he turned to look at Natsume.

"He writes like a chicken so it's not a surprise that he draws like one too." I said arrogantly. Score one for Sakura!

"I think I have better drawing skills than you'll ever have." He said as he sat on the sofa across from us.

"I know that I have better drawing skills than you'll ever have." I said as I stood up and walked over to the coffee table and began clearing the food on top. I put the Pictionary on top and looked at him seated on the couch silently challenging him to a game.

Maybe I could be better than both Hotaru Imai and Natsume Hyuuga in this game.

Two minutes left and I still hadn't figured out what the drawing was.

It was our eighth game and we were at a tie, if I get this one right and he doesn't know what to answer in the next round, I win and have the right to brag being the Pictionary master.

The picture looked like a cross of a pillow, a crocodile and a mop.

"Your drawings suck immensely." I said as I raised my coke to get a swig of it once more. That coke bottle, its initial purpose was to be shared with everyone and I find myself finishing it off after God knows how many hours of Pictionary.

"Says the girl who drew what looked like a duck with a mustache which was actually Justin Beiber." He said humorlessly.

I finish off the last of the coke bottle and I throw it to the pile of wrappers to one side of the room. Heat rushed to my cheeks and I looked like a tomato with a brown mop on top of her head. "Just shut up."

It was a minute and a half left.

My eyes were getting blurry because it was 9pm and I still hadn't eaten dinner nor have I gotten up to use the bathroom.

A minute left.

_Fuck._ A minute or less left and I still hadn't figured it out. What is a cross between a pillow, a crocodile and a mop?

_._

What the hell is the difference between a crocodile and an alligator anyway?

_._

No, time to think. Justin Beiber? No, it's done. Wolverine? No. The picture doesn't show his claws. Mickey Mouse? No, he's too mouse to be in the picture.

_2._

I'm just going to blurt out about anything at all in the last second.

_1._

"It's Mozart!" I scream out as I stand.

The tension, the pressure and the long 3 hours of Pictionary has reminded me that I was human and I needed to go to the bathroom. I ran quickly to the nearest bathroom and then as soon as I was done, I ran back down. I didn't see Natsume back yet (probably went out to pee in the garden) but what I did see was that there was a crudely drawn "I" added to my points.

I actually guessed it right? _What the hell._

"Your wild guess was a bullseye." Natsume said as I found him lounging on one of the sofas. I never noticed Hotaru or Ruka leave the house. Myabe it's because I was too focused on the game?

_**Or maybe you're too focused on the opponent?**_

_Shut up, Brain. _

So that meant me and Natsume were alone in his house.

A guy and a girl left in an empty house.

With no parental guidance whatsoever.

Nothing major's probably going to happen.

Well, maybe except for me kicking Natsume Hyuuga's butt in Pictionary.

"So Natsume, up for the last round?" I said joyfully.

I got the card from the deck of cards (which we customized to suit to our generation) and I wished it was something hard so that I can finally win something over Hotaru Imai and Natsume Hyuuga.

I raised the card and looked at it.

_Hunger Games Series._

_Bingo! I am __**so**__ going to win the competition._

Three minutes left for him and he still hasn't shown any panic or any kind of emotion. Natsume was just calm.

It was scaring me.

Two minutes left and I begin to see the cracks in his calmness. He's furrowing his brows and glancing between my drawing and my eyes.

A minute and a half has passed and he has now stood up and beginning to curse everything. _Excellent._

A minute left and he's still wasting his time arguing with the coffee table that seemingly got in his way.

30 seconds left and I can smell my victory.

"What the hell did you do? Draw with your left hand?" He said angrily as he resorted to kicking the pile of leftover wrappers instead of me. I was very grateful for the gesture as the coke bottle I finished before hit me square in the forehead.

I rub my forehead fearing a lump will emerge on it the next day. I grab the infamous coke bottle and consider throwing it to his _supermegahuge_ plasma TV. Then I reconsidered the prospect of that wonderful idea with my logical side reasoning that the crude rich bastard would ask for a replacement of the _supermegahuge_ plasma TV. I just resort to throwing the bottle to his feet giving him a snide remark of my own. "Don't blame me for your lack of understanding of art!"

"You call that art? I call it shit." He nonchalantly said as he picked up my thrown coke bottle and throwing it at the easel that contained my very, very awesome drawing. It fell over with a thud and I glared at him from across the room.

I picked up the easel and set it up again. Then I threw him another glare as I chucked the coke bottle to the couch. "And what do you call your face? Super shit?"

"People call it handsome." He said as he took a seat on the ground leaning on the couch. I could see the air of his arrogance surrounding me.

I give out a string of coughs and seated myself across from him. "Tick, tock. 20 seconds left."

"You're just avoiding the subject because you can't tell me that I'm not handsome." He smirks; I throw him another glare. Where was the coke bottle when you needed it?

As he gets the said coke bottle he throws it to me but I duck out of the way and it hits the wall behind me. "The joke's on you, 15 seconds left."

I laugh as he furrows his eyebrows. He gives me a glare every now and again and I stick my tongue out at him.

.

"It looks like a bird on top of a building with a brick and a mop with a bow and arrow!"

"Insult it all you want, it doesn't give you the correct answer."

.

"You obviously challenged me to this game to spend time with me."

"What the hell! You thought that I was-Oh no, no, no, no! I am not that desperate!" I fume as I try to calm myself. _He was just trying to rile you up just to get you to spill your answer. Breathe._

2.

"Which means that you do want to spend time with me?"

"I never said anything like that! The last 3 hours was a way to waste my time!" I was flustered. Here was my victory within my reach and he had to trample my dreams. This is why he's my worst enemy.

1.

"Because I think the last 3 hours was your way into seducing me."

"You selfish, arrogant, greedy, evil bas-"I was turning red. How dare he accuse me of such slutty things.

"The answer's the 'Hunger Games Series'"

My jaw was open and I didn't know how he did it. I messed the picture up an yet he-

_It's probably a lucky wild guess. _Or that's what I'd like to think.

"The bow and arrow and the bread were giveaways."

He was playing with me! He knew the answer the entire time!

"If you knew then why-"

"Because it was fun tormenting you."

I almost fainted right then and there.

I threw the Pictionary in the trashcans outside of his house and I returned home.

I swore that day to never play Pictionary _ever again._

**A/N:** I felt so high when I made it. Warning: I haven't checked for it so watch out for spelling and grammatical errors.

**Prompts:** Pictionary, Hunger Games Series.


	5. Of Superheroes and Thugs

_Of Superheroes and Thugs. _

There are moments when you realize that jealousy isn't what it's all cracked up to be.

For Kokoro Yome, this was one of those kinds of moments.

He watches as this thug eyes _your girl_ with that malicious glint in his eyes. His blood boils as he sees his gaze wander over from her face to her chest area. He clenches his hand and bites his lips. He tries to stop the angry yell he wants to scream out.

As soon as Sumire talks to another one of her stuck-up friends, he takes his chance. Koko runs to the thug and smashes into him knocking both of them to the ground.

Sumire screams in the background and he smirks.

He knew he'd get a mouthful from her later. He knew his ears would never be the same but at that moment; Koko didn't care because he just felt like a goddamn _superhero._

**A/N:** Superheroes are epic.


	6. Of Cotton Candy and Foxes

_Of Cotton Candy and Foxes._

You take a look to your left to the girl with the bright blue eyes and curly pink hair. Her hair is like cotton candy to you. While the whole class is at chaos you choose to touch those cotton candy locks that she has. She swivels to pay attention to you now.

"Why were you touching my hair?" She remarks in a sweet tone. It all but matches her cotton candiness. Maybe she was a fairy. A cotton candy fairy.

You give her a smirk and return to playing with your pen, twisting it nimbly in between your fingers. "There was a bee in it."

She gives you a confused look and you laugh at her. She flushes with embarrassment and jabs your chest with her index finger. "You're lying, you _bloody fox_. The windows are not opened!"

"I swear! There was a bee in your hair!" You say as innocently as you can. She doesn't retort and returns to her placid state.

You now get the most ingenious idea you have ever had and you lean in and sniff her hair. She turns around and she has this look of utter indignation with her nostrils flaring and her eyes popping out. You laugh a lot and she pouts and crosses her arms in front of her until you've stopped laughing.

You stop and she opens her mouth to ask you the question you already know she'd ask.

"Why did you _sniff _my hair?"

The bell rings but you know that won't stop her question for being unanswered. You stand up and gather your things and she stands up waiting to block you if you ever plan to exit.

"I sniffed your hair because I thought it would smell like cotton candy." You pass her on your way out with an amused smile gracing your face and a look of horror plastered on hers.

Today was surely a productive day.

**A/N:** I'm a sweet tooth. That is all the explanation you will ever need.


	7. Of Hormones and Affairs

_Of Hormones and Affairs_

"So let me get this straight? He had an _affair_. _With his mirror_?" I scream out.

"I-I'm sorry Ms. Imai, this was all the writers could come up in this short amount of time," Yuu says timidly as he carefully pushes up his glasses.

I throw the manuscript down to the ground and I massage my temple. These people were giving me a headache. This was my first 15 minutes in and they're giving me this _crap._ I pace the room deciding whether or not I quit now and let my reputation be saved or stay on board with the project and have a tarnished reputation with the words _WORST SCRIPTWRITER EVER_ embedded on my resume.

I decide to go with the former and I start packing my things. Yuu is flailing his hands around behind me begging me to stay on board. As I have packed up all my stuff, he kneels down in front of me and grabs on to my leg. His tears and snot are ruining my pants and his grovelling was killing my conscience.

"P-pleaseeeeeee Mi-missss I-I-I-maiiiiiiiiiiii! S-s-save o-our s-scripttttttt!" His cry was so loud that I bet the brats that were going to play the roles were going to complain.

I hear quick knocks on the door and here he comes, the dreamboat of the whole production. _Ruka Goddamn Nogi. _He thinks the world is as fine as sunshine and rainbows and it makes me sick. How people like that can be so optimistic when they've been given crap like _'he had an affair with his mirror which is why he left his beautiful wife' _as a plot.

"What do you want?" I spat out at him. Can't he see I'm busy trying to quit while trying not to kick off Yuu Tobita from my pant leg?

"I wanted to say how beautiful you looked today," He says as he smiles with both his mouth and eyes. (He smiled with his eyes- _don't you dare question me on how I know he did.)_

I probably looked like a fish-out-of-water gaping at him. He goes out of the room and Yuu Tobita is still clutching on my pant leg for dear life.

"I'm going to do the script but damn it let go of my leg and change that script!" I growl out to Yuu Tobita. He lifts his head from the ground and hugs me with all his might.

"I LOVE YOU HOTARU IMAI!"

_Hormones be damned. _

**A/N:** Hormonal Hotaru again.


	8. Of Chocolate and Nutella

_Of Chocolate and Nutella_

"Just accept it Umenomiya! It's better than that!" Nonoko screamed from across one room.

Anna was red with rage as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She puffs up her cheeks and walks to the middle of the room. Nonoko follows suit and now they're mere inches apart. The rest of Class B stands by on the side watching the intent fight between them.

"Ogo-I never even learned how to pronounce your name or spell it!" Anna said as she flushed another shade of red. Her red face along with her pink hair made her into a pink flame.

"Ha! See I'm better than you than pronouncing names!" Nonoko screams out to her. She puffs out her chest and her ego inflates ten times than normal.

"They've never fought before! This must be big!" Koko exclaims from a corner. Both girls take a good glare at him and Koko raises his arms in surrender.

"That does not have anything to do with what's at hand _Nonoko_!" Anna says with her face losing a little of its color every minute.

"It so does _Anna_!" Nonoko spits out Anna's name. Their brawl is a big contrast to their normal lives. They would usually be seated at their desks laughing at the world.

After a while no one speaks at all. Silence envelops the room and no one dares to speak at all. Nonoko makes the first move and turns on her heels. "Okay, I'm done. "

"Coward," Anna spats out at her turned figure and a huge smirk breaks out on her face.

Nonoko stiffens at the word and turns around to face her _ex_-best friend. "What did you say Pinky?"

A horrified expression crosses through Anna's face and she takes three steps closer to Nonoko. "Oh I don't know Emo-creepo-girl. I know I called you a coward though. All you probably heard was the emo poetry that's going through your head."

That's when Nonoko snapped and then she lunged in for the kill.

Nonoko tackled Anna to the ground and pulled on her pink locks. "Umenomiya, accept it! Nutella is so better than that chocolate!"

Anna grabbed a fistful of Nonoko's hair and tugged on it and Nonoko quickly released her grip on her pink locks. Anna flipped Nonoko over and now Nonoko clawed at Anna's hands to stop pulling her hair.

"You accept it Oso-Osa-_Ohsoemo_! My chocolate is so better than Nutella!"

Confused looks were echoed around Class B as they saw the horrific brawl over which was better _Chocolate or Nutella._

Hotaru clearly annoyed at the surprising reveal of the fight was the first one to get a grip and pull both girls to their feet by pulling on their hair.

"Hotaru! What are you-" Anna started as she began to stand back up.

"Hotaru! Let me go!" Nonoko screams as she fights Hotaru's steel grip on her hair.

"Both of you are big idiots. There is no battle on which is better_: Chocolate or Nutella_ because _Crab_ is far better." Hotaru barks back at them.

"No way!" They both yell at her.

"Admit it, Crab is better or I will pull on your hair harder than before." Hotaru threatens as she begins tightening her grip on both their hair strands.

They both surrender in defeat because no one can win a battle against Hotaru Imai.

**A/N:** No comment.


	9. Of Counting and Suffering

_Of Counting and Suffering._

"_In the midst of this diversity, we'll stand together."_

I heaved again and unloaded the rest of my stomach into the toilet bowl. I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve and stood up. I pressed the button on the toilet and my lunch was flushed down. I smiled wryly to myself.

_Another day, another pound less._

I went out of the bathroom stall and looked at myself.

_I__am__Sumire__Shouda,__fifteen__years__old__but__turning__sixteen,__weighing__thirty-seven__kilograms__and__still__not__perfect._

I had knobby knees, fat arms and equally large legs. My stomach always felt bloated after I ate and my face was sunken in from the lack of nutrition. The make-up I used didn't sit on my face the way it did for the stars on TV.

Nobody noticed my daily trips to the bathroom after lunch since school started. Whether it was because they didn't notice or just didn't care, I wasn't certain.

I smiled to myself again and got out my make-up bag. The pack of chewing gum was at the top and I slid a piece out before tossing it in my mouth.

The aftertaste of bile was horrid unless I washed it out somehow.

After making sure the taste was gone, I grabbed a tissue, wrapped my gum in it and threw it in the trash as I walked out.

I went to my room as soon as I got home and immediately checked my weight. I stood on the scale and closed my eyes. When it beeped twice after the calculation, I opened them.

I weighed at 37.5 kg.

_I grew fatter._

I hopped off the scale and lie on my bed.

I didn't eat dinner or eat breakfast the next day.

_I was almost there, I was almost perfect._

In school, I found out the new issue of _Vogue_ was just released. At lunch I bought one at a nearby stand and flipped through the pages. They were filled with these _perfect_ models with their hair tousled and styled, their clothes expensive and neat, and faces made up to perfection.

I rushed inside the cafeteria and ate my food quietly. No one noticed that I wasn't talking at all, except for him.

_Kokoro__Yome._

He was captain of the soccer team, the best friend that didn't know a thing about me.

Apparently, he'd been calling my name but I hadn't heard so I hadn't responded. When I came to, it was to see everybody looking at me with worry plastered on their faces.

I faked a smile. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Are you sick or something?" Mikan said as she placed her hand on my forehead.

She was always the innocent one that cared about others more than they cared for themselves. I wished I was like her but I knew I could never be that selfless.

"I'm fine, you brat."

She bit her lip anxiously. "Are you sure, Sumire? You seem…odd."

I looked at her, then at the rest of them. "If it makes you stop biting your lip to death, I'll consider going to the clinic."

She released her lip.

I stood up, threw the rest of my lunch in the trash and headed to my next stop.

I was at my wit's end.

I threw everything up and yet I still felt full. I tried to get myself to throw up once again but to no avail.

I grabbed the Vogue magazine in my bag and ripped every model from the pages. Every happy face was torn in the middle. The skinny models were crumpled and the ones that looked fatter than me stayed on the binds of the magazine. I threw the torn and crumpled papers in the toilet.

_I am never going to be perfect._

I pressed the flush button, wiped my mouth with my sleeve and opened the stall door.

There was Kokoro Yome and for a moment I swear I saw the worry in his eyes. It was soon replaced by anger, resentment, hate…every distasteful adjective could be found in his eyes.

_Maybe people cared after all._

"What did you do in there?" He said as he ran his fingers through his messy sandy hair.

I moved out of his way and went to the sinks. "What are you doing _here_? It's a girl's bathroom, if you didn't read the sign."

I went to wash my hands but he grabbed my wrist to force me to look at him. He grew a lot, since the last time I saw him or maybe it was just me not looking at him at all.

He glared at me with such power in his eyes, I could melt under his gaze. "Are you anorexic?"

_My heart fell. _

I scoffed and tried pulling my hand away but he held it tighter. I winced at his grip and he let go. He walked over to the entrance door and leaned against it. He wasn't going to leave without a good reason.

"Mikan was right. I wasn't feeling well. I decided to go to the clinic but I felt sick enough to puke so I went to the nearest bathroom," I stated robotically.

He looked at the ceiling. "Uh-huh. You expect me to believe that crap you call a reason?"

"Believe whatever you want to believe, Yome," I said coldly as I went closer to the door. I reached for the handle but he grabbed my wrist, stopping me before I could turn the knob.

"Why are you doing this to yourself? Don't tell me you've sunk so low that you've begun to starve yourself to death."

"I haven't been starving myself."

He grabbed my shoulders and I felt the strength in his grip once more. This time I didn't wince.

"Then care to explain what you were really doing back there in that stall?"

I gave up. I broke down. I slumped to the bathroom floors and I cried.

He held me tight.

He was warm. I was cold.

He was caring. I was selfish.

He was perfect. I was not.

After I settled down, I told him about everything: my desire for perfection, those long tired nights I didn't eat but stayed up from a grumbling stomach, the trip everyday to the same stall in the same bathroom.

Some people used to say, "Once you let go of everything, you're free" but they were wrong. I told him about everything and nothing changed. I was still the girl from before. The fat girl who couldn't even lose a few pounds. The girl who wasn't perfect in a world where perfection was the goal. The girl who always stood alone.

Kokoro Yome gave me a hug and he didn't let go. As I explained everything to him, he hugged me tighter when I couldn't continue to tell the story and released me a little when I started talking again.

Even after all this time, even after I traded him for myself, even after I talked about my problems.

He was still there.

He never left me.

_I just never knew how much I had._

He told me some things before I decided to stand up and move on with my life.

"You shouldn't give two damns about this kind of thing. You're the best soccer playing girl ever and how could you play if you were only a skeleton? Your pointy bones would pop the ball on contact." He laughed goodnaturedly, drawing circles in my back. "Perfection's overrated and as far as I know, Sumire Shouda never wanted anything in her life to be overrated, _especially__herself_."

He stood up and offered his hand. I shoved it away and wiped my tears on my sleeves. I laughed as I stood up from the floor and I dusted grime off of me. I grabbed the knob and opened the door. He gave a bow indicating that I should go first. Koko followed after me as I went out of the bathroom.

With my head held up as high as I could (without causing myself any neck injuries), I walked the halls back to the cafeteria.

After losing my lunch and with all the drama, I was feeling as hungry as a caveman.

_Well food, here I come._

**A/N:** _For__Trinnie-choo._  
>This one's for the people who think they're too fat. No one is ever too fat. Through whatever you're going through, it will get better. If you want to talk about your problems, PM me or leave me a review that you want to talk about it. I'll gladly listen to you.<p>

**Prompts:** Perfection, Bathroom Stalls.

'_**Carpe**____**Diem**__**'**_ – _Seize__the__day._


	10. Of Guns and Wine

_Of Guns and Wine._

You hold the gun against your temple and you wonder if you really can do it. You sigh and put it down on the table next to you. Your throat burns as you remember the wine that she offered you last night.

You knocked on her door at 11 pm and she lets you in, her cold demeanor present as always. You take out the documents she asked you to bring. You lay it out on the table and she calls you from over her shoulder with her violet eyes piercing your red ones. She calls you to wine and you smirk as you refuse, remarking that you only came for her signature.

She still comes in with two glasses and a bottle of wine and she sets them on the table. She gathers up the papers that you left and she leans on her kitchen counter, reviewing the papers.

After 3 and half minutes she raises her eyes from the papers to you. You still feel the coldness from the look she gives you but you also sense something more behind that initial cold stare. She places the papers on top of the table again and she shakes her head citing further errors that could surely be worked on as her reason for not approving. You give her a nod indicating that you understand her reasoning and turn to take your leave.

She doesn't stop you and that's the last that you see of her.

**A/N:** Pairings are whichever you choose but it's kinda obvious.


	11. Of Gravity and Games

_Of Gravity and Games._

"_There will always be gravity between us."_

Two knocks were heard and a door was opened and out stepped Natsume Hyuuga, CEO of Alice Enterprises. In his hands held a violet wrapped gift with a yellow ribbon. He was dressed for a party – a casual red polo and jeans although his face showed no joyful expression to indicate he was going to attend one. He took a quick look at the office and decided it was empty and approached the oak desk in the middle of the room. Before he could set the gift down, he felt a chill run down his spine and he knew she'd been watching him all this time.

A swivel chair turned behind the oak desk and there she was in her glory (or was it arrogance?) "A gift for me, Hyuuga? You shouldn't have," Her tone was that of icy sarcasm, challenging him to a battle.

The boy in turn gave a snort at her statement and played with the violet box in his hands. "You required it," He said with bland interest.

She watched as the gift played back and forth in his hands and silently made a remark how they were so alike with the gift being played with: they were always back and forth in arguments, in stares, in insults. 12 years have passed – if nothing stopped them before, what could stop them now?

_The only thing that could stop them was – _

The gift that was passed between his two hands clattered to the ground noisily and she looked at him with a scornful glare.

_-gravity._

She got up from the swivel chair and walked over in front of him. She crossed her hands in front of her chest and tapped her foot on the floor incessantly. _She_ was Hotaru Imai, Chairman of the Board in Alice Enterprises. She was dressed in a purple ruffled blouse and a black pencil skirt – dressed more for a meeting than a party. She tilted her head upwards to look into his eyes and gave him a cold glare. He stared back down her, expressionless and then her tight lips twisted to one of a smirk.

She glanced at the gift on the floor and looked back up to his eyes. "Aren't you going to pick that up?" She mockingly told him.

His eyes lighted with amusement and he recognized her patterns immediately. She planned to play a game with him, so be it. "And waste all my precious energy? Someone who sits around and does nothing all day would surely have more energy than me," He replied sarcastically. His lips turned to his own smirk.

Her arms then went from her chest to her hips – indicating what he predicted: a game to be played. "Some people should really learn their place before they don't have one anymore." She said wittily.

His eyebrows rise as if wanting to challenge the statement. She raises her own eyebrows mentally asking him if he really wanted to challenge it. He is about to remark but she cuts him off with a painful set of words.

"Would your wife really want you out of a job?" She coldly retorts to his gestures.

He stares back down at her and her piercing eyes. They dance in amusement at the game she knows she has already won. He gives a resigned sigh and bends down to pick up her Christmas gift. Her hands are open now – indicating she wanted the gift to be given to her directly. He takes a quick glance at her fair, small hands and how many years it would take to live this moment down.

He bends and stops several inches away from her face and yet she doesn't flinch – she doesn't even move. The gift was hovering above with a gap of a few centimeters left. He dares to lean in closer and he doesn't notice how she has held her breath. A few more centimeters and they would be kissing.

He smirks and she knows she has lost the game.

"Your husband might be the unluckiest person on earth," He remarked humorously as he pulled away and sets the violet gift on the oak desk. Her face was blank but he knew she was seething with anger. He turned to leave and she sat back in her swivel chair staring at her violet gift. He grabbed the knob of the door and opened it and before he left he looked over his shoulder and gave Hotaru Imai a good mocking victory smirk. Her grip on the arms of the swivel chair tightened and he finally slipped out of the room but not before hearing her last words.

"Merry Christmas to you too," She angrily spats out.


End file.
